Breaking the Barriers

Most of this chapter will be about Orella's past, but there will also be a crazy drama ending that reveals a dark little secret...read to find out! No rights to Slender. (And as a side note, I listened to Forgotten September by two steps from hell as I wrote this )

(Flashback) "Hey mom, do you think it'd be ok if I went to the movies with some friends?" Leah Rowe turned towards her 17 year old daughter and with a contemplative look, they had never been very close so Orella was always a bit hesitant to ask her for anything. She was more of a daddys girl. "I don't know Orella, you didn't finish cleaning the room." "But it's not just my room! I cleaned over half of it, all that's left is her books by her bed and her school stuff." "You know your sister is training for her track competition and she's always worn out when she gets home! You need to help her out-" Orella threw up her hands in exasperation, knowing that this conversation was going to turn into a fight. "It's always about how hard working and great she is, but when it comes to what I do it's never good enough." "That's not true Ella-" "Yes it is! I am always picking up the slack for her and I'm tired of it, I can never go out because of this." Her mother didn't look at her as she heard her daughter go on about how she plays the favorite game, "Just go Orella..."

The teen looked at her mother as it was said quietly and she got frustrated when she didn't even turn to her, "Are you even going to look at me?" But when her mother said nothing more she just shook her head and brushed past her, closing the front door with a bit more force than she intended to. "Ready to go Ella?" "Yeah." She didn't look towards her father, Samuel Rowe, as he gave her a questioning look and got into the drivers side. It was quiet as he started the car and pulled out of the drive way slowly, glancing both ways before pulling out into the street and heading towards town. "You know she's proud of you, too, Ella. She just has a harder time expressing it to you, give her a chance." Orella looked at him with a sad and empty smirk and she just shook her head, looking down at the floor boards, "I've tried but she just doesn't want to understand what I do...she doesn't care..."

(Present) I stopped speaking and closed my eyes as I tried to continue telling the story, my words stuck in my now dry throat, but I had to do this...I was tired of hiding it. Charlie rubbed my shoulder and I'm sure Slender would have comforted me more if we were alone, but he placed a hand on my back and nodded for me to continue...so I did. (Flashback) "Yeah, I should be there in like, ten minutes. And tell John not to eat all the popcorn. K, bye." She ended the call and placed her phone in the pocket of her light jacket before taking a sip of water she had brought, they were currently stopped at a red light and time seemed to stretch on. Her dad turned to her and placed a hand on her head, ruffling her short hair and making her chuckle as she swatted his hand away. "Knock it off dad!" He smiled and then his expression turned into a more serious one, "I really want you and your mom to talk when you get back tonight ok? I don't like seeing my girls fight all the time." "...will you be there too?" "I promise to if you promise to try." She smiled and nodded, holding her fathers hand and she squeezed it tight, "Ok, I promise." He smiled back and turned towards the road as the car in front of him began to move.

Orella had never been afraid to drive, she had been doing it for almost two years now and she thought of her self to be a very confident driver. But she learned all she knew from her father, and that included always being alert to what was happening on the road. She saw it before her father and by the time he tried to react it was to late. About the time the middle of the car was going through the intersection a blue hummer came speeding through and hit them head on, the momentum making their smaller red ford focus instantly flip several times. The hummer had been running from the cops and in a single stroke of bad luck had chose that moment and time to run the red light. (1st person, Flashback) I screamed as I saw the hummer close in and then everything around me erupted into chaos. I knew the car was flipping but it was like I was only seeing certain parts happening, one moment I was screaming, the next I was being thrown around, held in place by a seat belt, and I could barely see what was happening on my fathers side. At one point I think I blacked out, but when I came to I could barely see a thing and I heard the shrill wailing of multiple sirens. I groaned a bit in pain as I felt my side ache and I fumbled around take off my seat belt, being careful to hold my hands out so I didn't fall and break my neck. "Dad?" I coughed and my vision began to clear up a bit as I carefully maneuvered over the glass to move towards the drivers side.

There wasn't much room seeing as the car was partially crushed but I managed to turn towards him, "Dad, dad are you alright?" I didn't hear a reply and I began to panic, but then I heard the wrenching and groaning of metal and the door on my side came off to reveal a fireman. "Miss, are you alright? Can you try and move towards me?" "No, not without my dad!" "Someones already working on getting him out, I need you to move towards me." I wanted to scream at them, to tell them that I wasn't going anywhere, but I knew I had to get out. I carefully shimmed backwards, wincing as my side and arm scraped against glass, and I felt the fireman carefully help me up and I was immediately placed on a stretcher. "No no my dads in there! I have to help him!" Hands held me down and I felt straps being placed over my wrists, "Miss, we'll get your father your father out but you have to calm down! The paramedics need to check you over." I was still breathing heavily and my eyes were glued to the demolished car, but I nodded slightly and laid back, letting them get me into the paramedic van to examine me.

"I don't want to go to the hospital, I just want to see my dad." "Ok, but first we'll have to make sure your not critically wounded alright? Could you look over towards me please?" I looked over to see an older woman, probably in her mid 40's, and she had soft green eyes with dark brown hair. Her hands were quick and skilled as she checked over my head and neck for any fractures, then she began to move down my body. I winced as she got to my left side and she stopped, "Does it hurt there?" "Yeah, but it's just an aching feeling." She pressed a few times and I winced at the pain, it wasn't severe but it wasn't to comfortable either, "I don't think you have any broken ribs, just some bruising." I nodded and she continued the check up, and after she found no other problems, other than the bruising and the cuts from glass, she got out her supplies and began to patch me up.

I could barely see over at the car from where I was but I saw one of the firemen crawl into the car to get my father, but before I could see much else my attention was drawn to a police woman. "What's your name honey?" I looked at her as she tried to talk to me but there was no life in my voice right now, "Orella." It came out as a whisper and she nodded as she sat next to me on the edge of the vehicle, tilting her head towards me so she could hear my quiet answers. The questions were mostly about what I remembered and how I was feeling, but my mind was only focused on my dad right then. I jumped up as I saw a stretched go by with a sheet over a body on it, "Is that the man from the hummer?" I heard no answer but I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned to see the police woman looking at me with grief, my heart stopped cold in my chest as I looked back over and saw a rough looking man, barely any injuries, being put into the back of a police car.

I felt the sting of tears in my eyes and the burn of rejection in my heart, "That-that's not my dad...that's not him he promised!" Arms wrapped around me as I tried to sprint towards the stretcher that was now being put into another ambulance, "No! Let me see my dad! I have to see him!" I continued to struggle as I watched the ambulance's sirens come on and it peeled away, leaving me to scream and cry as much as I could. (Present) I closed my eyes, not wanting the tears to fall, but I could not stop them as the pain of my fathers death came back and hit me head on. For so long I kept it bottled in and now it threatened to burst, but I wiped away my tears, I wanted to finish...to have a full closure. "I was taken to the hospital to wait for my mom, but I didn't say a word to her when she rushed in. She hugged me and tried to talk to me but I was just...gone. My mind had shut down and I didn't talk to anyone for almost a month, I blamed myself for that wreck. If I had just cleaned that room and avoided the fight then the crash would have never happened."

Charlie shook her head and took my hand into hers, "Don't say that, you can't know when something like that is gonna happen." I smiled and nodded at her comforting words, but the feeling of guilt never left me. Then I surprised her by smirking and chuckling hollowly, "My mom and I, we just kept growing apart, but I knew she loved me and vise verse. We got money after what happened but she took a job just in case while I kept the house in place. I always stayed happy from then on because I knew my sisters needed me, and I didn't have time to be selfish with my feelings. And I never did keep my promise, the one about talking to my mom...but I suppose it's only fair considering he didn't keep his either..." And then without uttering another word I stood and walked to my room, quietly shutting the door, now feeling in the mood for a nice long nap.

(Late Afternoon time) Is this what it felt like to just...let all of your past go? I felt as if a wound had been reopened, yet at the same time, I felt good. I had eaten earlier and I was now writing about the past few days in my journal, not wanting to fall behind on the times when Charlie walked in. "Hey, how you doing?" I closed my journal and swung my legs over the side of the bed, being careful not to disturb Artimus. "I think I'm better, better than I was." She nodded and sat quietly beside me, her hands twining themselves together in a sign of nervousness. "You okay too?" She looked over at me with a lopsided smile, "Yeah. I just wanted to confess something as well. You know how I said I had been separated from my family?" "Yeah, they aren't dead are they?" She chuckled a bit and shook her head, "No no, not to my knowledge. But I wasn't alone when I was seperated, I was with my older brother, Tyler." My breathing stopped and my smile slowly disappeared, "Tyler?" "Yeah, I was coming through this way to look for him when I ran into you, he said something about going to find a town but when he didn't come back for almost a week that's when I started to look for him, even though he told me to never do that."

I tried not to freak out in front of Charlie as I heard about this, It couldn't be the same Tyler could it? "What-what color was his hair?" "Light brown blonde, why?" I nearly vomited, "Just wondering, thinking I might have seen him but it's not ringin a bell. But Maybe he's still out there." She smiled and was about to say more but she heard Bongo barking, "Sorry, I have to take Bongo out. But we'll talk more later ok?" I nodded numbly as she left and I quickly called Slender through my mind, knowing he was off somewhere." "Get here now please!" "Orella what is-" "Now!" He appeared beside me and I immediately wrapped myself around him, "Please young one, tell me what is wrong!" I stopped my near hyperventilating and looked up to him with panicked and wild fearful eyes, "I did something wrong! Something I can never take back!" He held me out at arms length and bent slightly over so he could look my directly in the eye. "What Orella?!" "Tyler! The one that was killed because of me about 6 months ago! He-he was Charlie's-" I choked out a sob and his voice softened as he questioned me one more time, "It is ok dear heart, I will not judge you." "Her brother...Tyler was her brother..." He was silent as he pulled me close to him and held me softly, "I...it is not your fault. Nor could you have know...but the fault is mine." "How am I going to tell her?" "You won't, do not try and fix something that isn't broken."

Dun dun duhhhhhhh! Drama bomb yo! I liked this chapter and it was a bit sad to write, but all in all I think it came out all right. Please leave your review!